KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — Shares of Axiata Group Bhd were slightly higher in the early trade on the potential of its unit, edotco Group Sdn Bhd to acquire telecommunications infrastructure provider Touch Matrix Sdn Bhd for RM1.8 billion.Quoting sources, it was reported that deliberations were still ongoing between edotco and Touch Matrix, and the owners of Touch Matrix could decide to keep the business.
“While this is just a rumour, it doesn’t come as a surprise as edotco has previously indicated that they would use organic and inorganic means to achieve their goal of being top five globally and top three in Asia in terms of tower count by 2024,” Kenanga Research said in a note today. As at the end of the second quarter of 2021 , edotco had 23,845 towers regionally, with 4,715 in Malaysia.
“We are not able to identify Touch Matrix’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation as well as net profit. It is rumoured that its owners are seeking as much as RM1.8 billion, which is more than edotco’s cash and equivalents of RM1.2 billion at the end of Q2FY21. “That said, edotco could fund the acquisition with debt and/or funding support from Axiata Group,” Kenanga Research said. — Bernama